Little Bo Peep

Poems & Rhymes

Little Bo Peep
Has lost her sheep
And can't tell where to find them
Leave them alone
And they'll come home
Wagging their tails behind them

Origin

There are references to a children's game called "Bo-Peep", from the 16th century, including one in Shakespeare's King Lear (Act I Scene iv). However, the earliest record of this rhyme is in 1805, in a manuscript containing only the first verse. Additional verses are first recorded in the earliest printed version in a version of Gammer Gurton's Garland or The Nursery Parnassus in 1810.